Study Group Proceedings

Download the published proceedings from the Partnership for Peace Consortium's Study Groups. These groups include the Regional Security in the South Caucasus Study Group (RSSC Study Group) and the Regional Security in Southeast Europe Study Group (RSSEE SG). These groups strive to foster regional stability and international security and where appropriate play a vital role in conflict resolution.

More than 100 senior counterterrorism professionals from government, military, law enforcement, intelligence, international organizations, civil society, academia, and the private sector met to address Foreign Terrorist Fighter (FTF) phenomena in the Western Balkans. The Republic of Macedonia in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United States Embassy in Macedonia hosted the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC) Combating Terrorism Working Group (CTWG) event. Conference participants included Macedonia’s new National CT/CVE Committee including the national CT/CVE coordinator, as well as the CVE national coordinators from Albania and Kosovo, providing the foundation for increased regional collaboration on difficult challenges, including FTF and prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration issues. Keynote speeches were delivered by senior Macedonia government officials, as well as from senior members of diplomatic and counterterrorism (CT), including countering violent extremism (CVE), bodies. The keynote speakers H.E. Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia, H.E. Jess Baily, U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia, H.E. Nina Suomalainen, Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Mr. Borche Petrevski, National CT/CVE Coordinator, Republic of Macedonia, and Mr. Richard Prosen, U.S. Department of State and CTWG Co-Chair addressed relevant CT/CVE issues within the context of evolving FTF threats and challenges. The conference showcased a multi-stakeholder tabletop exercise (TTX). The TTX engaged participants in an interactive scenario on emerging security challenges to a fictitious country, which facilitated discussions to cultivate Macedonian and regional policy and programmatic recommendations related to FTF travel, relocation, and return.

These conference proceedings are from the Partnership for Peace Consortium's Conflict Studies Group 14th Annual Conference - titled "Doctrinal Change Using the Past to Face the Present" - and represents the work of the conference's 40 historians and military experts from 14 countries.

On 1 July 2013, Croatia officially became a full-fledged member of the European Union, thus fulfilling both foreign policy goals (EU and NATO membership) and making a huge step ahead in the process of its long-term consolidation. On the other hand, the other countries of the region are currently in different stages of their reforms/accession processes and it is very difficult to predict the pace of the developments in the period to come. The issue of long term consolidation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is far from being resolved. Moreover, the name issue is still a heavy burden of Macedonia’s EU and NATO accession processes. Finally, the Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue and related developments such as the beginning of accession talks with Serbia and negotiation on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo represent a significant step ahead. However, the full implementation of the agreements that derive from the dialogue has yet to take place and it’s still difficult to anticipate the final resolution of the problem.

Currently braving its most serious financial crisis to date, the EU’s integration
projects face grave challenges. Under the current difficult economic
conditions, the question needs to be asked whether the EU will be
able to maintain its active role in the Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP) or become victim of a possible European trend towards renationalisation.
In this regard, the EU’s stabilizing factor in regional
peace processes – in particular in the Western Balkans – could be seriously
affected by the financial, economic and social troubles inside the
EU.

These study group notes are a compilation of the presentations and discussions of the 9th RSSC SG workshop, held from 20-22 March 2014, in Istanbul, aimed at discussing the concept of security as seen from the demilitarization or disarmament point of view, juxtaposed against the South Caucasus countries’ socio-economic policies. In short, this workshop aimed at discussing not the balance of power between the actors, but the balance of spending between guns and butter. The events in Ukraine had a stark warning for the South Caucasus; failure to address pressing socioeconomic issues could haunt the regimes in place.

These study group notes are a compilation of the presentations and discussions of the 8th Regional Stability in the South Caucasus Study Group workshop. The workshop was designed to test the boundaries of conflict resolution. Under the title “What Kind of Sovereignty? Examining Alternative Models of Governance in the South Caucasus”, it aimed at exploring the definition of terms and concepts surrounding governance, and to determine whether their application cannot be allocated among conflicting actors, or better yet, put in common.

This is a compilation of the presentations and discussions of the seventh workshop of the Regional Stability in the South Caucasus (RSSC) Study Group, that convened from 14 to 16 March 2013 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Under the overarching title of “Building Confidence in the South Caucasus: Strengthening the EU's and NATO's Soft Security Initiatives” it explored initiatives that aimed to build confidence in the South Caucasus, via the activities of the civil society, the EU and NATO.

These study notes were produced by the Regional Security in the South Caucasus Study Group, which held its 6th workshop at Reichenau, Austria, from November 8-11 2012. The format of the workshop was based on the successful Regional Stability in South East Europe Study Group, and its thematic concept aims at gradually bringing parties from the region to discuss and form policy recommendations on security issues and conflict resolution ideas starting from a high-level
strategic outlook towards resolving particular issues of tension.